John Cannon

John Cannon has supervised coverage of nearly every news beat in San Diego County, including government, education, crime, courts, science, the environment, the military and the border. He also directed local coverage of the California electricity crisis and the region's ties to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has a bachelor's degree in English from Loyola University Chicago. John has worked for the U-T since 1987. He has won numerous writing and editing awards in Illinois and California and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Two of the men who carried out Osama bin Laden’s 9/11 terror attack lived in Clairemont and Lemon Grove in 2000, blending into the community by attending mosques, studying English and mingling with young Muslim men. Nawaf Alhazmi and Kahlid al-Midhar also were taking flying lessons at Montgomery Field in preparation for the day they would commandeer a jet and fly it into the Pentagon. The two Saudi Arabians apparently used valid visas when they ...

Breakthroughs in science and medicine usually are first reported in big-name journals, including Science, Nature and the Journal of the American Medical Association. The world of peer-reviewed research journals is wider, however. San Diego is home to a rare entry in the field of science communication — a journal written and published by college undergraduates. We talked with Leila Haghighat, editor of the Saltman Quarterly at UCSD, about the publication and its aims. Haghighat, 20, ...

Determining the difference between a five-star and a four-star hotel in the recently published 2011 Forbes Travel Guide ratings is as simple as answering yes-or-no questions. Hundreds of yes-or-no questions. Here are some of the topics probed during Forbes (formerly Mobil) inspections — some announced, some not: Is the staff extremely well-spoken, polite and clear, avoiding slang and phrase fragments? When asked about restaurant recommendations, does the staff mention at least three appropriate options; describing ...

Chula Vista  The Binational Emergency Medical Care Committee, a Chula Vista-based organization, is seeking the public’s help in an annual effort to provide blankets to needy people in Tijuana. In addition to new blankets, the group will accept new sleeping bags, receiving blankets for infants, food and toys. The first delivery of items is scheduled for Dec. 22. Celia Diaz, founder of the committee, said blankets and other items to keep people warm are ...